How grateful I am for the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit that
our Heavenly Father gives us daily. I feel as if we may take for granted
the biggest blessing of the companionship of the Holy Ghost almost
weekly. Or at least I feel that I do at times. I do not believe that
there is any other moment in my life where I am more happy then when I
am feeling the spirit. Whether it be in the House of the Lord or walking
down a street of a trailer park here in Tallahassee. The spirit will be
with us as we ask, knock and seek for his companionship. My wise
grandfather who i cherish dearly once told me around the new year
season, "make every day a new year." I found that applicable in today's
email. In the World Wide missionary broadcast they mentioned how every day starts off spiritually at 6:30 am.
How the morning sets a tone for our spiritual days. And no matter how
the day goes, the next morning will always come and we will always have a
new 6:30.
Every day we have the opportunity to make our days more spiritually
filled and to make every day a new year :) I ask myself these questions
frequently:
What do I choose to say? study? listen to? focus on?
Am I choosing to be obedient?
Is what I'm doing enticing the spirit?
If the answers to those questions are not the best, I ask myself:
What can I choose instead? or
What would the Savior have me do?
Now I am no perfect person. I don't believe we can find any perfect
person alive, though I have a testimony of striving to invite the
spirit into our every day lives so we can be guided in what we say, do,
where we go, and what the will of the Lord is. The spirit also is a sign
that what we are doing is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord and that he
loves us and is happy with us. I know that the spirit is what leads us
and guides us and that if we do all we can to invite his presence into
our every day lives we will get closer with our Savior and our Father in
Heaven. I love you all so very much and am grateful for your prayers
and support. No missionary can say that they cant feel answers to
prayers from those they love at home. I am eternally grateful!
Until we meet again,
Your favorite elder in Florida,
Elder Stonely
